Infinitely Losing My Edge
Yeah, I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
The kids are coming up from behind.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids from Laos and from Mumbai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Wire show in Watford.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids whose footsteps I hear when they get on the decks.
I'm losing my edge to the internet seekers who can tell me every member of every good group from 1961 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Calgary and New York.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei kids in little jackets and borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered nineties.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
I can hear the footsteps every night on the decks.
But I was there.
I was there in 1965 at the first Beefheart practice in a loft in Lancaster.
I was working on the clarinet sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed started up his first band.
I told him, "Don't do it that way. You'll never make a dime."
I was there.
I was the first guy playing Swans to the rock kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
Everybody thought I was crazy.
We all know.
I was there.
I was there.
I've never been wrong.
But I'm losing my edge to better-looking people with better ideas and more talent.
And they're actually really, really nice.
I'm losing my edge.
I heard you have a compilation of every good song ever done by anybody.
Every great song by Angels of Light & Akron/Family. All the underground hits.
All Brass Construction tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ice-T record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Rahsaan Roland Kirk record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought an organ.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Marvin Gaye,
Dennis Brown,
Crime,
The Cowsills,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Deadbeat,
Yaz,
Pantytec,
Cybotron,
Agitation Free,
One Last Wish,
L. Decosne,
Gregory Isaacs,
Bobby Womack,
Average White Band,
Peter and Kerry,
Lalo Schifrin,
Shuggie Otis,
Tomorrow,
The Leaves,
Todd Rundgren,
Half Japanese,
Eve St. Jones,
Dawn Penn,
Stiv Bators,
Lou Christie,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Q65,
Larry & the Blue Notes,
Be Bop Deluxe,
Oneida,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Johnny Clarke,
Rosa Yemen,
Inner City,
The Walker Brothers,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Lungfish,
Lower 48,
Sticky Fingaz feat. Raekwon,
John Coltrane,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Wally Richardson,
The Sonics,
8 Eyed Spy,
Swell Maps,
Roger Hodgson,
Nick Fraelich,
The Doors,
Aswad,
Pylon,
Pierre Henry,
Public Enemy,
Cymande,
Pole,
The Red Krayola,
The Invisible,
Chris Corsano,
The Smiths,
Japan,
Saccharine Trust,
Ultramagnetic MC's,
The Trojans, The Trojans, The Trojans, The Trojans.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.